Education Programs

Focus In Education

The Miller Foundation is focused on supporting education for young children through the third grade. This includes organizations and programs that engage vulnerable parents and families in their child’s development as well as programs that provide young children who are most at-risk of lower educational success with high-quality pre-school and early childhood education.

Priority Focus Area: High-quality educational support for young children

Background

The impact of education extends far beyond the classroom and plays a decisive role in shaping children’s futures. For example, its impact on health status is profound. Children who receive a quality education are more likely to have health insurance coverage, are less likely to be overweight or obese, and have a lower mortality rate and live years longer than children who face unaddressed learning challenges and do not advance in the educational system.

Pre-school and early education for children through the third grade builds a strong foundation (e.g., mental and social development, literacy skills) that promotes a child’s long-term success in education. These resources are especially valuable for young children more at-risk of lower educational attainment including those living in poverty or in non- English speaking households. These children often start school well behind other students in reading comprehension, writing, and overall skills needed for educational success. The gap in achievement continues and escalates throughout their education, given this lack of a strong foundation.

Despite what we know about their importance, those most at-risk and in need have severely limited access to early education programs, special tutoring, and other resources to enable them to have a good start in the educational system. Expansion of resources is critical.

We also recognize the pivotal role parents and families play in children’s early development and educational attainment. Many families and caregivers want to increase their ability to meaningfully engage in their child’s development and learning, but also lack the resources to support their own language acquisition, good parenting skills and approaches, and how to navigate the educational system to access resources for their children.

Examples of programs the Foundation supports include (but are not limited to):

High-quality, accessible childcare or pre-school services

Programs that engage families in promoting the educational success of their child (e.g., parenting workshops, family-based programs, family literacy, and language acquisition)

Desired Outcomes

With its partners in the nonprofit and public sector in Long Beach, the Foundation hopes to help move the needle for young children’s education in North, West, Central, and Southwest Long Beach. Here are some of the indicators we hope to see as a result of our joint efforts:

Increase the total number of 3rd graders who are reading at grade level and hitting benchmarks in literacy

Increase the number of children who have access to academic supports out of schools (e.g., computer labs, after-school programs)

Increased enrollment in childcare and pre-school education

Eventually, we hope to see long-term academic success of children, including boosting attendance and retention of students through the 8th grade and high-school graduation rates